Abstract

Shock/shock-interaction studies (Carl et al. (1998)) have been conducted numerically and experimentally in the High Enthalpy Shock Tunnel Göttingen (HEG). A cylinder of radius 45mm and a 10 degree wedge are used for shock generation. Freestream conditions with total pressure of approximately 50 and 100 MPa were available. Freestream total enthalpies are around 10-20MJ/kg and Mach numbers are approximately 9 for all conditions; air is used as the test gas. The experimental results are pressented and compared to computations. Additionally, the ideal dissociating gas model of Lighthill has been used to predict the flow conditions downstream of the different waves (Sanderson (1995)). The observed shear layer instabilities and their influence on the shock system are discussed. An enhancing influence of the high enthalpy on the instability is found in comparison to low enthalpy flow at the same Mach number